the ninth century Great Moravia happened somewhere elseVeľká Morava sa diala inde

When you learn about Great Moravia you learn about Nitra, Devín and the Morava valley — and that is the point. The Moravian state had its centres in the west, and how far its power reached into the east of today's Slovakia is still argued over by historians; no Moravian princely centre is attested in the Košice basin. Slavs were living in these valleys, and after the Magyars broke Moravian power at the beginning of the tenth century the whole region was drawn into the new kingdom taking shape on the Danube. So Košice is a young city by Slovak standards: while Nitra already had a church and a bishop, there was nothing here that anyone thought worth naming. Its history really begins with a road and a market, four hundred years later.Keď sa učíme o Veľkej Morave, učíme sa o Nitre, Devíne a Pomoraví — a práve o to ide. Centrá moravského štátu ležali na západe a o tom, kam až siahala jeho moc na východ dnešného Slovenska, sa historici dodnes sporia; v Košickej kotline nie je doložené nijaké moravské kniežacie centrum. Slovania v týchto dolinách žili, a keď Maďari na začiatku desiateho storočia zlomili moravskú moc, celý kraj sa dostal do nového kráľovstva, ktoré sa formovalo na Dunaji. Košice sú teda na slovenské pomery mladé mesto: kým Nitra mala kostol aj biskupa, tu nebolo nič, čo by niekto pokladal za hodné zápisu. Ich dejiny sa naozaj začínajú cestou a trhom — o štyristo rokov neskôr.